Something that any artist or entertainer has to come to terms with is promotion. It’s necessary but those of us with consciences and souls don’t love spamming our friends and family on our social media platforms.

I try to keep this to an absolute minimum and hopefully you’ll have noticed I don’t even use this site of mine to advertise every little thing I do. I’m very happy, though, to let you all know when I’ve discovered something cool that another comic has done. Today I’m letting you know that Aussie comedy legend Jacques Barrett has release his first special, imaginatively titled “The Special.”

If you’re not familiar with Jacques Barrett, you’re in for a treat. He’s a staple of the Australian live comedy scene, constantly working and touring to a point where he’s refined a formidable set of skills. He’s very, very funny.

Meeting Jacques has been one of the awesome things about becoming a comic. Doing stand-up has been great for me in lots of ways, but one of the most excellent things about it has been getting to meet some of my favourite comedians, some of whom have become friends and mentors, and I’ve gotten to do some of their shows. And he’s one of them.

When I first met him, I asked him about his album, Championi, which you can listen to here. I love comedy albums. They were the dominant comedy format for me, and they’re something you can enjoy while driving, walking, etc. Now it’s video specials and that’s cool.

On the plus side, video specials have opened up live comedy to a bigger audience than ever before, and I now get to see loads of comics I’d never have had the chance to.

But on the other hand, they’re expensive to produce unless you’re one of the ten comics in the entire world that Netflix throws money at each year. Also the polished production of Netflix specials and Comedy Central Presents episodes, with lavish production and planted packed audiences who are trained or paid to react like ideal audiences, result in highly curated and polished performances that don’t accurately reflect the experience or vibe of live comedy in the venues it actually happens in.

But mostly they’re a massive expensive project for a comedian to fund and produce themselves, which they’re expected to do (unless Netflix, etc). At least with albums it could be produced by the comedy label we’d sign to, and if we had to do it independently it was economically achievable.

But the cost of making your own special? Even the kind of modest one you’ll find on YouTube? We’re talking the kind of money that would make a substantial house deposit. You have to be an extremely hardworking, committed and economically viable entertainer to even consider it.

Even his album cannot possibly have returned it’s costs to him, which he confirmed. At some point we have to reconcile some losses as the cost of doing business, the necessary things we do if we’re going to be in the game. But, as I’ve said, that cost when the media is a video special is exponentially greater.

Jacques Barrett is a working comic who’s been doing it full time all over the world for years, so it’s not quite the absurd proposition it might be to someone like me – a part time amateur with a day job. But the whole thing reminds me of why I’m not. Jacques tours constantly, which is something I’d absolutely hate to do (I’m only ever truly happy when I’m at home being a lazy slob with my dog and cat and girl), and he’s prepared to do what it takes.

That he’s filmed and released a comedy special is a big deal. And if he were a New York comic with a massive social media following and a deal with one of the networks there it might end up on YouTube, where it would struggle to be found just like his album on Spotify is. It just wouldn’t work, so he’s selling it direct.

His proposition is to sell it on a USB stick, by mail order and at live shows. The cost is very reasonable. a mere A$23.00 for a 51 minute performance in high quality video on a USB (it’s both USB-A and USB-C so it’s good for phones too) with 32 gigs of leftover storage. And, because I bought one as soon as I saw it, I can tell you it arrived very quickly in the post.

And what’s it like? It’s excellent, just as I anticipated. This is one of our country’s best comics at the top of his game, relaxed and confidently delivering on all expectations. There’s a little crowd banter, a couple of entertaining stories and lots of finely crafted funny bits.

It’s good shit, a masterclass in how it’s done, and it belongs in the hearts and minds of comedy enthusiasts. I know Jacques has made a big investment in his special and I hope it pays off.

You can buy your copy here. If you do, let me know your thoughts.